Will The Million Be Banked in 2016?

Posted: 27 February 2016

R1 million bonus
prize waiting for Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon record-breaker

Elite runners in the 2016 Old Mutual Two Oceans
Marathon will once again be taking part with a large incentive to finish fast.
There’s a R1 million bonus prize for the first male and first female to break
the respective course records.

“The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon is already
an impressive race in its own right,” says Karen Thomas, Head of Brand at Old
Mutual, “but we believe adding this record bonus has really elevated the race
to another level.

“More international runners have been drawn to the
race since the bonus was introduced, plus it’s added an extra element of
excitement to the day. At Old Mutual we like to see perseverance and commitment
pay off, so the bonus incentive is our reward to runners who wow the world with
their dedication to their craft.”

When Old Mutual first announced the incentive
ahead of the 2014 race, it immediately ignited fresh motivation for those
runners who had held out little hope of bettering the times of Thompson
Magawana and Frith van der Merwe, because ‘those were set on a course with a
downhill finish’.

Runners who are convinced that ‘nothing is
impossible’ think the bonus prize can be the catalyst for a record-breaking
finish.

“If you look at other big marathons like New
York or London, people also talked about the records being difficult, but then
as soon as big prize money was offered, the records fell. There’s no reason
that can’t happen at the Two Oceans,” reasons 2005 Two Oceans Half Marathon
winner Hendrick Ramaala.

In 1989, the year Frith van der Merwe set the
record, “the car was enough to motivate me”, she says about the Opel Monza she got
to drive away. She thinks the R1 million bonus is an incredible incentive. “It's
going to attract very good marathon runners. It will take an athlete with
natural speed to break the record.”

Natural speed is exactly what the then
24-year-old showed during her remarkable run. First, she broke both the 30-mile
and 50km world records on the way to 22nd place overall – beating accomplished
men like 1981 winner Johnny Halberstadt to the finish line. Then she lowered
Monica Drogemoller’s record, set the previous year, by almost 14 minutes after
Drogemoller herself had taken eight minutes off the previous time.

Subsequently, it took a decade for another
female runner to break 3:40 and only in 2008 did Van der Merwe’s record truly
look under threat when Russian Olesya Nurgalieva crossed the finish line in
3:34:53.

As it turns out, neither Russian Nina
Podnebesnova (2014) nor Caroline Wöstmann last year ran under 3:40 to win, so
Van der Merwe’s record may be safe for some time.

When the late Thompson Magawana set the men’s record of
3:03:44 in 1988, he actually bettered the record he set the previous year by
almost two minutes. For his efforts, he was awarded a car too – a Volkswagen
Golf (as Drogemoller was).

The closest any male runner has come to his mark
was in 2005, when Zimbabwean Marco Mambo ran 3:05:39 to win the second of his
three titles.

While Ramaala believes Magawana’s time can be
bettered, he cautions that 2016 might not be the year.

“Many top runners like myself are focusing on
qualifying for the marathon at the Olympic Games, but there may be somebody
from overseas who is coming just to try break the record.”

Old Mutual Virtual Coach Norrie Williamson recently
compiled a pace sheet to illustrate how fast an athlete would need to run to
stand a chance of banking the million.

In 2015 Williamson expanded his theory on the
record: “Truth be told they would need to be well experienced 2:07 (men) and
2:23 (women) marathoners in order to have the talent to get close to the
record, but would also need to know the course and where to push or relax. This
means they will not be novices to the race.”

We’ll have to wait for 26 March to see if any of
the elite field succeed in clocking a new time to clinch that waiting R1 million
prize.